The real estate industry has continued to thrive since the late 1990's. With favorable interest rates and market conditions, the real estate industry has continued to strengthen. Record numbers of personal and commercial real estate properties are being bought and sold each year. The present invention concerns all types of personal and commercial real estate.
As indicated by the 2000 United States census, approximately 66% of total households in the United States are single family homes. Some sources indicate that approximately 25-35% of these homes go on sale annually. Currently, increasing numbers of these homes are being listed on the Internet as “virtual tours”. Furthermore, more and more commercial real estate properties use virtual tours. Virtual tours will continue to increase in popularity.
Traditionally, a seller of real estate retains a real estate agent to help sell the property. In the United States, the real estate agent advertises the property and is paid a percentage of the final sale price of the home upon sale. The most predominant advertising service in the United States is known as the “MLS” or the Multiple Listing Service. Real estate agents and buyers examine MLS listings to see what is available on the market. After narrowing their choices, actual home visits are arranged. The time consuming nature of actual visits limit the number of potential houses that can be viewed by a potential buyer.
With the widespread use of the Internet, more and more home owners are advertising on the Internet. Recently, Internet advertising has developed more sophisticated features. Unlike traditional MLS listings, which featured only one still image of the home, Internet advertising allows multiple photo images of the real estate property on sale. Additionally, some listings enable the potential buyer to take “virtual tours” of the property through multiple photos, panoramic images, and 360 degree images of the homes. Virtual tours give the potential buyer a better sense of the property without having spent the time required to actually visit individual homes. The buyer virtually sees and visits the real estate property at the comfort of his or her computer.
A typical real estate transaction involves numerous parties, including buyers and sellers, real estate brokers and agents, lenders and mortgage brokers, insurance companies and agents, home inspectors, settlement attorneys, title companies, and vendors of all kind. These real estate related businesses have also grown with the real estate market.